Organic geochemistry, carbon isotopic composition of alkanoic acids and sediment core dating from permafrost soils and river and fjord sediments the Bayelva catchment and Kongsfjord, Svalbard

• Main Authors: Kusch, Stephanie, Rethemeyer, Janet, Ransby, Daniela, Mollenhauer, Gesine
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA - Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science 2020
• Subjects: Bayelva; Brøgger Glacier; Kongsfjord; Svalbard; glacier; Kongsfjord*; permafrost
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.921162; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.921162

The dataset contains compound-specific δ13C and Δ14C isotopic composition of alkanoic acids from permafrost soils and river and fjord sediments the Bayelva catchment and Kongsfjord. These were analyzed in order to determine permafrost OC turnover timescales in the Bayelva catchment, assess export mechanisms along the flow path, and characterize the spatial dispersal and reburial of permafrost OC in Kongsfjord sediments. The sampling strategy was designed to obtain an export transect sample set covering the permafrost soil-river-ocean system. Samples were taken during several land- and ship-based campaigns. In 2007, soil samples from the Bayelva River catchment were collected from the thawed active layer in the northern foreland of the East Brøgger glacier. Leirhaugen (LH) is adjacent to the main stem of the Bayelva River (Boike et al., 2008) and permafrost ground temperatures have been monitored at this site since 1998 (Boike et al., 2018; Roth and Boike, 2001). Additional soil profiles in the catchment were sampled from Kolhaugen (KH), Upper Drainage Area (UDA), and Lower Drainage Area (LDA) as described by Rethemeyer et al. (2010). A sample of coal was also obtained from the catchment. Sediment samples from the Bayelva River (BY-R), its river mouth (WP280), and the central Kongsfjord (Station T) were obtained in 2008 using a shovel (BY-R), push cores operated by divers (WP280) or a hand-operated HAPS corer (Station T). All sediment samples were sliced into 0-1 or 0-2cm segments.